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Food Sites for December 2017

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Sturgeon fishing on the Hudson, part of a WPA mural Olin Dows painted for the Hyde Park Post office (1941).

We somehow managed to keep summer going a lot longer than usual this year... but, alas, it has finally come to an end. A couple of nights ago, we had our first killing frost. Basil, fresh from the garden—will only be only a memory until next year. Fortunately, the cold months have other flavors to delight us. As the holiday season continues, some of us will be sucking down caviar... but the rest of us can try some alternatives. We posted a few at “Caviar, Friend or Faux?” in Roll Magazine.

This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection suggest the kind of moderation we tend to ignore during the holidays.

But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from... the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviar, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them. J.B. Priestley

Give me a platter of choice finnan haddie, freshly cooked in its bath of water and milk, add melted butter, a slice or two of hot toast, a pot of steaming Darjeeling tea, and you may tell the butler to dispense with the caviar, truffles and nightingales’ tongues. Craig Claiborne

There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats grape-nuts on principle. G.K. Chesterton

Gary
December, 2017

PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line. It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (like Dianne Jacob), thanks, and keep them coming!

PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

(Bronwen and Francis Percival describe the differences between these two cheeses and—along the way—explain how the chemistry and process of cheese-making determine the character of the finished cheese; an article at Serious Eats)

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.

Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs:

Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?

It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).

The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)

How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #206 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.

Food Sites for November 2017

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Something from Rabelais, the Patron Saint of Holiday Excess.

The holiday season—or, as we like to call it, La Grande Bouffe—is about to descend upon us, appropriately enough, in the form of an all-devouring beast. There’s little we can do to stop this devastating assault on our carefully-composed diets, the resulting avoirdupois, or our gastrointestinal well-being... but, at least, none of the text of this newsletter has any caloric value.

Unless, of course, one is seduced by some of these website’s charms, in which case, all bets are off.

This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection reflect some ambivalence about the centerpiece of a certain holiday.

TURKEY: This bird has various meanings depending on the action in your dream. If you saw one strutting and/or heard it gobbling, it portends a period of confusion due to instability of your friends or associates. However, if you ate it, you are likely to make a serious error in judgment. Barbara Condrony

TURKEY, n. A large bird whose flesh when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. Incidentally, it is pretty good eating. Ambrose Bierce

Turkey is undoubtedly one of the best gifts that the New World has made to the Old. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Turkey takes so much time to chew. The only thing I ever give thanks for at Thanksgiving is that I’ve swallowed it. Sam Greene

Gary
November, 2017

PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line. It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (like Dianne Jacob), thanks, and keep them coming!

PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

(the Cotton MS Vitellius C III, in the collection of the British Library; text is in Old—which is to say, Anglo-Saxon—English, but includes a link to a modern English translation, available for purchase)

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.

Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs:

Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?

It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).

The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)

How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #205 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.

Food Sites for October 2017

Friday, September 15, 2017

The winds of
change: The last Howard Johnson restaurant left, in Lake George Village, NY

Autumn is a time for
reflection on the passing of things. It’s no accident that many of the world’s
religions mark the season with remembrance and re-evaluation. It’s also a time
when we start to think about dishes we’ve missed for months—sometimes,for
years. Is that a descent into frivolous nostalgia? Perhaps, but we don’t care;
bring on the comfort food!

We learned, right after
the last issue went out, that Food52 had posted one of our
recipes. Since there’s still plenty
of fresh corn available, check it out. Also, Roll Magazine has posted two of our articles, Dipping into
History, about chips & dips, and
another about onion
soup.

This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary
quote collection are about looking back, an activity which may— or
may not—be conducive to the production of written words.

All
the gifts are nothing. Money gets used up. Clothes you rip up. Toys get broken
up. But a good meal, that stays in your memory. From there it doesn’t get lost
like other gifts. The body it leaves fast, but the memory slow.Meir Shalev

Food
is about agriculture, about ecology, about man’s relationship with nature,
about the climate, about nation-building, cultural struggles, friends and
enemies, alliances, wars, religion. It is about memory and tradition and, at
times, even about sex. Mark
Kurlansky

Ponder
well on this point: the pleasant hours of our life are all connected by a more
or less tangible link, with some memory of the table.Charles Pierre
Monselet

Smell
brings to mind... a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a
myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory
like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Diane Ackerman

October, 2017

PS: If you encounter
broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line. It
helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who
have pointed out tasty sites (like Dianne Jacob), thanks, and keep them coming!

PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which
you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our
postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to
receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail
address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously
amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you
choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never
afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page
to fix everything to your liking.

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo
and commercial flim-flam:

Occasionally,
URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money
to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing
them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the
fact that they looked interesting to us.

Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell
or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we
will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs:

Want to help On the Table, without spending
a dime of your own money on it?

It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon,
click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a
commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even
have to be one of our books).

The
Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)(these newsletters merely update the
contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)

How
to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update
#204 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your
personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice
remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior
written permission—is strictly prohibited.